This book review of an extremely timely, far-reaching and comprehensive book by Professor Laurence Boisson de Chazournes, titled Fresh Water in International Law, by an expert in the field. Today, in an era of climate change, wide spread droughts across the globe, the fate of fresh water, which is a fixed resource and is the source of life, is an ominous problem in and for international law. Boisson de Chazournes addresses issues related to treaty design and interpretation, case law, UN initiatives, human rights issues and the development of the human right to water. The author also stresses that today some three billion people, comprising 40 per cent of the world’s inhabitants, live in 280 international river and lake basins that include two or more States. These basins “cover nearly one half of the Earth’s land surface and account for an estimated 60 per cent of global freshwater ﬂow. In short, Boisson de Chazournes provides a full treatment of the gamut of international law norms regarding the issues of water.
The distribution of fresh water: its scarcity, caused by droughts and climate change, has throughout history, including today, instigated tragic deaths, the destruction of ecosystems, and hostilities between States; while water’s abundance causes people to be more wasteful than they otherwise would be, and is seen as just another source to be tapped.